Rocky ThompsonHead Coach

Rocky Thompson directed the Chicago Wolves to the 2018 Central Division title during his first season as head coach.

The 2017-18 campaign marked Thompson’s 11th season as a coach, which included two seasons as the head coach for the Ontario Hockey League’s Windsor Spitfires. His tenure with the Spitfires culminated with a Memorial Cup on May 28, 2017, and he was hired as the Wolves head coach on June 7.

The 40-year-old spent five years as a coach in the Edmonton organization prior to joining Windsor. Under the same ownership as the Oilers, Thompson began his career during the 2007-08 season as an assistant coach for the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League.

After three seasons (2007-10) with the Oil Kings, Thompson joined the American Hockey League’s Oklahoma City Barons for four seasons (2010-14). Prior to the 2014-15 season he was elevated to an assistant for the NHL parent club, where he was behind the bench with former Wolves Dallas Eakins and Todd Nelson.

Prior to coaching, Thompson played professional hockey – split between the NHL and AHL – for parts of 11 seasons from 1995 to 2007. Selected in the third round of the 1995 NHL Entry Draft by the Calgary Flames, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound right wing made his NHL debut on Jan. 28, 1998, and went on to appear in 25 games between the Flames and the Florida Panthers and racked up 117 penalty minutes.